{"product_id":"the-locket","title":"The Locket","description":"When I wrote my first book, The Christmas Box, it was an intensely personal expression. To me, The Locket has that quality too.\nWhen I was sixteen, a high school sociology teacher gave us the assignment to visit a nursing home resident every week for the duration of her course.\nMy first meeting with my adopted resident, Lucille, was as awkward as I imagine a blind date with someone else's great-grandmother would be: Each attempt at conversation was met with blank, dubious stares.\nThrough time, I soon learned that I was Lucille's only visitor. That she spent her weekends and holidays alone in her small room, looking out at the pastoral landscape of the care facility. My attitude began to change. Lucille never spoke to me, never even learned my name, but I began to see something change in her demeanor whenever I visited. A quiet gratitude, perhaps. A friendship.\nTwo months later the assignment ended, but not my visits. I continued to spend time with Lucille until the day I walked in to find an orderly stripping her bed. When I asked Where Lucille was, the busy orderly replied, \"She died yesterday.\"\nIt was only then that I realized the extent of my connection with Lucille. I left the facility deeply saddened that I never got the chance to say good-bye. I never went back.\nThat is, until I wrote The Locket. As I began to write the story of Michael Keddington and Esther Huish, I found that I had returned to that quiet room.\nThe Locket, like all of my novels, is a love story. A story about the young love of Michael and Faye and the challenges they face. It is also a story of old love, between Esther and the man she lost so many years before. But, ultimately, it is a story of the love between generations, and the nurturing and forgiveness those relationships always require.\nMy hope is for you to come to understand the many gifts the elderly can bring to our lives. And, most of all, that in reading The Locket, you, and those with whom you share my story, will be brought closer to those you love and those whom you should.\nSincerely,\nRichard\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0684834731\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: RDV.0684834731.G\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Good\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Evans, Richard Paul\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: This book is in good condition with very minimal damage. Pages may have minimal notes or highlighting. Cover image on the book may vary from photo. Ships out quickly in a secure plastic mailer.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Reliant Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45360255533233,"sku":"RDV.0684834731.G","price":6.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0544\/8872\/7729\/files\/0684834731-0.jpg?v=1744563959","url":"https:\/\/www.reliantbookstore.com\/products\/the-locket","provider":"Reliant Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}